Scandivania Trip Part 7 - Bergen Day 2

On the last day of our tour and of Bergen, we went on our optional city tour which includes Troldhaugen, the home of the famous Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. We also walked the narrow lanes of Bryggen and learned about stock fish. The tour guide pointed out that many houses near the wharf have sunk and therefore are leaning to one side. We also learned that due to the influx of many immigrants, including the Vietnamese, there have been more Catholic churches here in the past few decades. We visited the 750-year-old Haakon’s Hall which was built by the last king of Norway, Hakon Hakonsson. We learned that as a baby, he was rescued by the Birkebeiner loyalists when the Baglers that had taken power in Eastern Norway wanted to eliminate him as the only heir of King Haakon Sverresson. He later united the East and the West and became a great king. I remarked to Kathy that the story could be made into a movie. Little did I know that a movie was already made. Kathy and I watched it during the flight home. Later I googled The Last King and learned it was premiered in Norway in 2015 and released in the US in 2016.

We walked back to the fish market for lunch. This time we had fish and chips at the place Kopi suggested. Afterwards we explored the city and ran into “It’s Personal” which is an art project that brings together eight artists from Thailand and Norway to collaborate with and around themes related to the personal and identity with the use of performance art as a platform. We walked up the hills of Bergen, “the city between the seven mountains”, and wandered around to Skansedammen Park where we sat down on a bench and enjoyed the view below and where Ngoan left us to go back to the hotel. Kathy and I continued our exploration of the city on foot and went back to Bryggen where we took pictures of the Statsraad Lehmkuhl which is a sail training vessel built in 1914, now contracted out for various purposes. 

We had our farewell dinner at Bryggeloftet og Stuene, a local restaurant on the wharf. We had a choice of lamb or halibut. All three of us opted for halibut. Kopi handed out kvikk lunsj as a farewell gift to each of us. We’d see him again at 3:30 in the morning when we were picked up for the airport.

Scandinavia Trip Part 6 - Bergen Day 1

The next day we departed Sogndal for Bergen. We first rode the bus to Kaupanger where we took a ferry. We went on a cruise of Sognefjord, supposedly the longest and deepest of all Norwegian fjords. It rained hard for the first time of our tour while we were on the ferry. Kathy stayed on the deck with her rain gear. I took shelter to protect my camera. I was glad to have the Disney World poncho with me, in addition to my rain jacket. The fjords get narrower as we went on and we saw lots of waterfalls. 

We met up with Odd, our bus driver, at the end of the ferry ride. He took us to Flam to catch a train ride which ascends 3000 feet in 12 miles. The scenery was very pretty, but the sightseeing got interrupted by many tunnels. 

We changed train at the mountain station in Myrdal. The second train ride took us to Voss where we had limited time for a sandwich and rest stop. This is where Kopi had to pay a hotel for us to use the restrooms. Kathy and Ngoan had coffee while I walked about and took pictures of a church. 

Odd dropped us off at the fish market in Bergen where Kopi gave us a quick tour. Bergen is the second largest city of Norway, surrounded by mountains. It is in the region known as De syv fjell, or the Seven Mountains. The city was an old trading port. The harbor was part of the Hanseatic League. We find it very convenient that our hotel is right in the city, near the Bryggen wharf. A McDonald and a Starbucks are nearby. Kathy and I had a very nice corner room with three big windows. We can easily walk to the fish market where we had dinner. This is where I had the 4^th fish soup. It wasn’t as good as the first two. I bought reindeer sausages from a Vietnamese merchant to take home as gifts, only to have them taken away at Dulles airport customs. (For some reason, the merchant kept pushing for me to buy moose and whale sausages instead and kept giving me samples to try to convince me.) After dinner, Kathy and I went out to explore the city while Ngoan stayed behind because of the rain. 

After the walk, I enjoyed the hot dry sauna by myself. The sauna room is in the gym which was empty the entire time I was there. No one came down to use either the gym nor the sauna, which was entirely fine with me.